Jamie, a witness who was in a restaurant on Rochester Walk near London Bridge, told the Press Association: "We were in the Black and Blue restaurant, we heard a fight and everyone got up and everyone rushed out of the restaurant and we heard a massive, massive bang. "Then we hid under the table and people came into the restaurant and knocked a bunch of stuff over, like the till.

A helicopter lands on London Bridge

"And then we ran into the restaurant into the kitchen, where there was a bunch of other people and a guy had been stabbed and he was cut and he was bleeding quite a lot."

He added that they waited in the kitchen for "quite a while" before they were evacuated.

Armed Police officer looks through his weapon on London BridgeCredit:
PA

A female companion said: "We were in the restaurant and we just saw three guys come into the restaurant, stabbed someone in the face and someone in the stomach.

"One of them had a big knife, then he came in and walked around the restaurant, I guess they just kind of stabbed anyone that they saw and knocked things on the ground and then we just hid."

Police storm one of the bars near London Bridge looking for the attackers

Another witness in the London Bridge area, Thomas Daly, was watching the Champions League final in The Sheaf when he saw security people running outside towards the entrance. He tried to leave when the match finished but found the doors were closed and they were unable to leave.

The 36-year-old, from Liverpool, said: "People were saying there had been a stabbing at Borough Market and they locked us in.

Debris strewn across the street near the scene on London Bridge of the attackCredit:
Getty

"We sat down again and some minutes later people started coming into the bar and people were getting a bit hysterical.

"A lot of people were streaming through the rear exit and we went outside and heard gunshots.

"I heard gunshots, at least two gunshots, and at that point the people who were trying to get out the back entrance came back inside.

"We went outside to the back, there was the gunfire and then we decided to come back in again."

Armed police then came into the bar and evacuated people, he added.

Liam, who was in a flat above Southwark Tavern next to London Bridge, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "We heard people screaming and we looked out and I saw people running down into the underground, and simply running in any direction they could. "The restaurant opposite had been completely smashed up, and a crowd of people were pointing into the market saying 'he's down there'.

"They got the attention of what looked like an armed police car, and pointed down Borough Market. The car screeched in that direction and we heard what sounded like five or six very loud gun shots."